How does hate shape a person? Can a human be complete without hate? Does hate ever leave? 

A reinterpretation by famous mangaka Naoki Urusawa (who created works such as Monster and 20th Century Boys) of the classic Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka, Pluto reimagines the original story as a police-procedural. It highlights Geischt, a robot detective from Europol, investigating a string of murders. As Gesicht uncovers the truth, he discovers a brand of violence that only humans are capable of. Despite being a story primarily about robots, Pluto dares to depict the situations of the real world: from the treatment of those that we judge to be different from ourselves, to how the progress of the developed world was built on the blood of the innocent. 

Spoilers ahead! 

God of the Underworld

The murders started with Montblanc. By all accounts, he was a robot that was near-indestructible, but he died all the same. Montblanc was known by the world as a forest ranger, environmentalist, and lover of everything that grows. 

However, years in the past, Montblanc and the seven greatest robots in the world participated in the 39th Central Asian Conflict—a war that intended to cull the development of a weapon of mass destruction by the country of Persia. There, in a foreign land, they killed thousands upon thousands of their fellow robots, inflicting even more human casualties due to collateral damage.

Montblanc was first on the list. His death was followed by North-02, who found passion in music; then Brando whose career as a professional wrestler he dedicates to the human orphans he has adopted; then Hercules, Brando’s greatest rival and closest friend; then Atom (i.e. Astro Boy) who was slowly learning how to be human; then Epsilon, who chose to adopt and rehabilitate war orphans from Persia; and lastly, Gesicht, who was close to uncovering the truth of everything. 

Before his death, however, Gesicht came upon a great discovery. All the murders were done by another robot named Pluto, who was capable not only of killing robots but also of causing direct harm to humans. As their only hope, great effort was made to rebuild and revive Atom. It all was near-futile, however, as the rebuilt Atom refused to wake up.

That was until Atom’s creator, Dr. Tenma, inserted the memories of Gesicht into the sleeping Atom. A new Atom arose, awakened by the grief and hatred that Gesicht felt in his last moments. With a newfound hatred, Atom began writing down the mathematics to create the strongest bomb that the world has ever seen—one that is capable of destroying the invincible Pluto. 

Pluto, however, was something else. In his investigations, Gesicht found the murderous and hateful Pluto in the Netherlands, in an underground bunker underneath a field of flowers. Before he became Pluto, he was first Sahad.

Before the 39th Central Asian Conflict, Sahad was the most advanced robot created by Persian scientists. His dream was to see Persia blooming in a sea of flowers. The rampant death and destruction caused by the conflict awakened an unquenchable hatred within Sahad and Dr. Abullah, the scientist who created him. Despite his conscience, Sahad was persuaded into becoming Pluto: Persia’s instrument of revenge against the world. 

But the 39th Central Asian Conflict was built upon a lie. It was a plot devised by the United States of Thracia to grind all of Persia, once a world leader in robot development, back into the desert dust. After the conflict ended, the United States of Thracia usurped where Persian science once stood, together with the economic benefits that entailed being the world leader in robotics. 

Pluto/Sahad and Dr. Abullah’s ultimate act of vengeance was to destroy the entirety of the United States of Thracia, the same way Thracia destroyed Persia. Dr. Abullah merged himself into the giant robot Bora—originally built to be an agricultural robot, the tool which could have realised Sahad’s dream—using Bora’s power to detonate a dormant supervolcano within Thracia, destroying not only the mastermind of their homeland’s destruction and taking the entire world with it. 

Armed with the truth, Atom confronts Pluto. They fought, destroying much of their surroundings. Gesicht’s memories, however, helped Atom overcome the hatred that reawakened him, and appealed to the Sahad buried within Pluto. Atom convinces Sahad that nothing good will grow from his hatred, a realisation that Gesicht had on his very last breath. Together, they stop Dr. Abullah, ceasing the eruption of the supervolcano.

Does the hatred you humans feel ever disappear?

A large part of Pluto is an exploration of the nature of hate. In the in-universe lore, robots are programmed never to be capable of hurting or killing humans. However, the pursuit of robots that are increasingly human involves the inclusion of all of humanity’s ugly properties into the software. Grief, longing, regret, hate, all these are needed for a robot to cross the threshold, becoming nearly human. However, is humanity only a sum of all its ugly capabilities?

Is humanity only a sum of all its ugly capabilities?

Before the death of Hercules, Epsilon confronts him with a question. “Did humans teach you all about their hatred?” In a later episode, Dr. Tenma, the creator of Atom, said that the robots of his time are not capable of hatred. For a robot to be truly great, it must be capable of all the terrible things that humans are capable of, and that only comes with regret, grief, and hatred. 

But, like Sahad, Dr. Abullah, and the seven greatest robots of the world, all who were affected by the 39th Central Asian Conflict came out of it mentally and emotionally scarred. Montblanc, Brando, Epsilon, and Gesicht coped with their newfound grief and regret by adopting children. Hercules silenced his demons with the cheers of his audience. North-02 persevered by becoming the butler of a blind musician and learning to play music himself. Atom tackled the new world by learning to become more and more human. Sahad and Dr. Abullah swore vengeance upon the whole world. 

It was later revealed that Dr. Abullah was the first robot who was successfully awakened by hatred through the work of Dr. Tenma. This made him the greatest robot of his time by Dr. Tenma’s definition, for he was capable of all acts that humans are capable of. Sahad inherited this hatred, and so did Atom. 

However, if the actions of everyone in the story were examined, they are not at all rooted in hatred. If anything, they are rooted in love. 

In the same confrontation mentioned prior, Hercules asked Epsilon if he learned how to love after going through the war. The robots may not have been able to put their thoughts into words, but they did not only inherit the capability to hate. Sahad and Dr. Abullah’s grief and violence stemmed from the fact that the country and people that they loved were all taken from them. Brando confronted Pluto to protect his family. Hercules swore vengeance for his rival and friend. Epsilon sacrificed himself for his children. A human, after all, is not just a sum of all the negatives that an individual is capable of. To be human is to communicate, to express, to build communities, to empathise, and above all, to love. 

All of them inherited hatred because they were capable of love. 

Personal Thoughts

Here, I write in the first person and lay bare my thoughts and feelings. Every time I think about Pluto, I am always driven to the brink of tears. I watched all eight episodes last year, yet it is as if they have never left me. While I’ve written the general plot of the show in this article, I’ve omitted many of the subplots which characterised each of the cast. That way, you (the reader) may still enjoy the show.

Thinking about it, if I had been in the shoes of Sahad, I too would have chosen to become Pluto. Loss is a powerful emotion. However, loss can only be truly felt if one has loved in the first place. Of course, not all forms of hatred are justifiable (such as the many prejudices that are widespread in our world), but Pluto is an excellent exploration of how the peaceful could be pushed into committing violence. 

Loss can only be truly felt if one has loved in the first place

The 39th Central Asian Conflict, masterminded by the United States of Thracia (I wonder which real-life country this is?), is a story that is familiar to many of the citizens of the global south. How many times has it been in the recent history of the world that wars were waged because of resource control? South America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, countless wars have gone on, and are still going on, because of the interests of the developed nations (not just the US, mind you). How many people have become victims, displaced, and even died because of these wars? 

In our world, there can’t be a Sahad, a robot capable of great deeds. Our technology isn’t there yet. However, many who have not even heard of Pluto have followed Sahad’s footsteps, and many more will follow soon. As long as there is a country, an entity, who takes advantage of others, there will always be a Sahad. They may not be as powerful, but they could be just as destructive. After all, all that they love was taken from them. 

Love is a powerful emotion. But so are loss, grief, and hatred. Many can choose to love instead of hate, but that is a choice that not everyone can make. As long as unjust conflicts exist, there will be a Dr. Abullah and Sahad. No matter how strongly we love, as long as there is injustice, there will be sadness, grief, and hatred. 

Hopefully, this article could serve as a reminder that the ceasefire of today could save the victims of tomorrow.